lighting setups and help

[aragonwhite]

Ok heres what I have. all of this is from alien bees and I love all of it, im just trying to practice different things. 3 ab800's, a large round reflector, 2 large umbrellas (bounce or shoot through), a medium softbox. I shoot with a canon 40d with the kit lens and a nifty 50.

I have been looking through peoples examples and what I like is pretty much everyone but freddycr stands out at the moment. I am trying to get my wife to model for me and if I can get some shots that are 1/100th of his talent wise then im all set lol. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[amonline]

Start asking for light setups in the threads you like. This will get you rolling.

[Mark_Cohran]

M Powered is good about posting his lighting setups, as are some others. Check out some of the threads in G&N and start from there.

[XTremeSLR]

Believe it or not, keeping it simple is the best way to go, especially if your first starting out. 1 light with a softbox and a reflector on the opposite side will work wonders. Depending on how much ratio you want you can move the reflector around. I would learn to light your model first before you begin to light other areas of the image.

Try some Rembrandt lighting. This is very flattering light and very simple to do. It makes me look like I actually know what I'm doing. Here are a couple exmaples of that lighting technique. Notice the shadows it creates on the opposite side of the main light source:

http://modelmayhm-7.vo.llnwd.net/d1/photos/081010/03/48eefe0f2db10.jpg

http://modelmayhm-7.vo.llnwd.net/d1/photos/080812/23/48a24ede5fa2c.jpg

There's also flatter lighting which is more direct and cause alot of pores to "go away" as in this example. Just ask yourself what you'd like to accomplish and find the means of getting there. Buy a mannequin head and practice.

http://modelmayhm-7.vo.llnwd.net/d1/photos/080328/00/47ec744adfd4f.jpg

[aragonwhite]

ok I will start practicing this. I have been reading and reading, I am trying to learn my lighting, what it does, how it works. In your example above, the first 2, you used a softbox at 45 or more to one side and a reflector about the same degree on the other?

And yes I have been looking under the glamour section and reading the strobist guides and trying to reverse engineer to try and see what I can come up with but sometimes theres a little to much photoshop to tell whats going on.

Thanks for the advice and I look forward to more.

[hawk911]

Paul, all the example images are great. Love the one of your GF in the black dress. Very nice image.